Senator Henry Clay Bulis View All Years

HENRY CLAY BULIS, who was intimately connected with the public affairs of our State for over forty years, died at Decorah, September 7, 1897. Dr. Bulis was born in Clinton county, New York, November 14, 1830. His boyhood days were spent on a New England farm, and he later followed the profession of teaching for about six years. In 1854 he took a degree from the Woodstock Medical College, Vermont, and the same year removed to Decorah, Iowa, where he followed the practice of medicine for a longer period than any other physician in Northeastern Iowa. In 1865 Dr. Bulis was appointed examining surgeon for pensions, which office he held ten years. In 1876 he was chosen president of the Iowa State Medical Society, the highest honor within the gift of the profession in his State. In 1887, after further study, he took a degree from the Jefferson Medical College, Philadelphia. Dr. Bulis held various public offices the greater part of the time from his twenty-fifth to his sixty-fourth year. Few men have had the confidence and esteem of their fellow citizens expressed in so marked a way for so long a time. In 1856 he was appointed commissioner for the sale of intoxicating liquors by Judge Reed. In 1858 he became the first county superintendent of schools in Winneshiek county. In 1863 he was elected county supervisor. In 1865 he was elected to the State Senate, and after a term of four years was re-elected. While in the Senate he served as chairman of the committee on the State University. He took an active part in founding that institution and was always its friend and warm supporter, serving as regent for eighteen years and then declining a re-election. In 1871 he was elected lieutenant-governor of Iowa. In 1876 President Grant appointed him a member of the Sioux Commission and in the very important work of that commission he took a prominent part. In 1878 President Grant appointed him special United States Indian agent, and in 1883 he was appointed special agent for the General Land Office. Dr. Bulis was prominently before the Republican District Convention as a candidate for Congress in 1889, but after sixty ballots withdrew in favor of Hon. J. H. Sweeney. He served as mayor of Decorah, 1880-81, and again, 1889-90. In 1890 he was appointed postmaster of Decorah, serving four years. He was a member of the Iowa State Historical Society and for several years one of its curators.